What is a transhumanism and the transhuman?
A transhuman is a human in transition. We are transhuman to the extent that we seek to become posthuman and take action to prepare for a posthuman future. This involves learning about and making use of new technologies that can increase our capacities and life expectancy, questioning common assumptions, and transforming ourselves ready for the future, rising above outmoded human beliefs and behaviors. The Italian verb “transumanare” or “transumanar” was used for the first time by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) in the Divine Comedy. It means “go outside the human condition and perception” and in English could be “to Transhumanate” or “to Transhumanize”. T.S. Eliot wrote about the risks of the human journey in becoming illuminated as a “process by which the human is Transhumanised” in his play “The Cocktail Party” (The Complete Poems and Plays 1909 – 1950, published by Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., New York). The Readers Digest Great Encyclopedia Dictionary (1966) defines “transhuman” as m
